Consumers often prefer to cook food in a microwave oven rather than conventional ovens because of the reduced cooking time required to heat foods in a microwave oven. Consumers also want to be provided with the opportunity to cook pre-packaged food products in the package in which they were purchased without the hassle of transferring the food from one container to the next. Consumers further want to be provided with pre-packaged microwave oven meals which allow a dinner with several different courses to be prepared at one time.
Unfortunately, foods cooked in a microwave oven tend to be tough and/or dry in texture and consistency, rather than tender and moist. When liquid is added to the food in an attempt to retain moisture, the food can become soggy and undesirable. In addition, microwave ovens do not evenly distribute heat to the product being cooked. This results in a cooked food product that may be very hot in one area, but cold in another area. Because of these problems, many people consider microwave cooking to be problematic and generally undesirable.
One method for improving the texture and consistency of food cooked in a microwave oven is to use steam generated by the heated food product to assist in cooking the food. Cooking with steam not only provides moisture for the food being cooked, but also results in more consistent heating throughout the food product. Such a steam cooking method is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,431, which is incorporated herein by reference.
One problem with consistently cooking various types of foods by this method is that steam generated by these various types of foods, when they are heated, differs based on the moisture content of the particular food being cooked. Because different amounts of steam will be produced when different foods are heated, and because different foods have different original textures and consistencies, the size and shape of the microwave cooking tray being used to steam cook a particular food plays an important role in that food's final texture and consistency. For example, by changing the shape of the compartment, the path of the steam used to cook the food may be manipulated to provide the best cooking environment.
When a microwave oven meal is being prepared, several different types of foods are often being heated simultaneously. If separate containers of an appropriate size and shape to steam cook each individual item are being used to simultaneously prepare the several different types of food, it becomes a hassle to juggle the various containers. If a single microwave cooking tray is used, the texture and consistency of some of the foods must be sacrificed.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a microwave cooking tray for steam cooking having multiple independent compartments, the size and shape of each being designed to provide an optimal environment for cooking the type of food contained therein. Such a design would allow several different types of foods to be prepared in a single tray without sacrificing texture and consistency of any of the foods.